Seth Maislin has some interesting statistics on findability as a value proposition:
Findability is something most people are willing to pay for. One industry estimate suggests that 14% of our workdays are spent looking for information; others say it’s more like 23%, 25%, 30%, or even 35%. IBM suggests that 42% of people use wrong information to make decisions, while IDC suggests that 40% of corporate users can’t find the information they need at all – and that 50% of intranet searches are abandoned. This is the world into which every document is born. Improving findability with a user-focused information strategy can give all of your documents a huge boost in value – or, if you prefer, those few documents you think deserve special treatment. Remember: If you can’t find it, you might as well not have it. (From: Improving the Value of Fixed Content.
I rather like his conclusion:
“Remember: If you can’t find it, you might as well not have it.”
To make the numbers more concrete, chart your prospective client’s payroll hours X 14%, 23%, 25%, 30% and 35%.
That should be a real eye opener!
The survey I have not seen though is one that tracks how many employees are searching for the same information.
A “many employees searching for the same information” number would be valuable for two reasons:
- It would quantify how much duplicate search effort a topic map could eliminate, and
- The information area they are searching would be the logical focus of topic mapping efforts. Why topic map ten year old corporate minutes that no one ever searches for?
Seth mentions a webinar on precise search results:
“Attend our upcoming webinar on October 23, Driving Knowledge-Worker Performance with Precision Search Results, which is likely to address many of these ideas!”
The webinar is described as:
Intended for a non-technical audience, this webinar will focus on how to identify and prioritize where these solutions can deliver value.
If nothing else, you may pick up some good examples and rhetoric on the value of better search capabilities.
[…] I mentioned the webinar: Driving Knowledge-Worker Performance with Precision Search Results a few days ago in Findability As Value Proposition. […]
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[…] Not to mention a thesaurus could reduce the 42% of people who use the wrong information to make decisions to a lesser number. (Findability As Value Proposition) […]
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